Rino and Beth's UK Adventure: 01/01/2007

Cakes and Fancies...

On a Tuesday afternoon, in January, 4 girls decided to skip out on all of their responsibilities and partake in the lovely English tradition of afternoon tea. But regular tea and biscuits wouldn't do. Oh no. So the girls journeyed to Knightsbridge for a "Fashionista's" tea. All of the goodies were modelled after the latest fall fashions. We're talking cookies, shaped like Jimmy Choo boots! Of course, a bit of bubbly was included, pear caramel tea, and lots of savories including lobster, beef, tuna, etc.

Our location, at the Berkeley Hotel.

My wonderful company! (Jill, Kelly, Katy)

Just some of the goodies. Can you say "sugar-shock?"

Us with our adorable take-away boxes. Mine is now prominently displayed in our kitchen.

On a far less feminine note, Rino and I spent Sunday at the Science Museum playing video games! They have a special exhibit following the history of gaming, from Pong, to Donkey Kong, to the new Nintendo Wii. So much fun!

And, if you have some free time at work, here's a bit of gaming for you. Parking Lot Pong.

Tea Time.

We bought the cutest personal teapots in Bruges. It's the best medicine for a chilly London day.

Words for the month:

Biscuit - What Americans call cookies. Usually served with tea.
Cookie - What the English feed their dogs. Or, what we call biscuits. Oi, my head....

SNOW DAY!!!!

Yes, it's true. I awoke this morning to find a small covering of freshly fallen snow. I was told that it never snows in London, so this was a wonderful surprise. It also happens to be completely melted already, but I have proof. Look....

EDIT: Just to prove that this really is a big deal... check out Andrea and Heather's blogs as well.

Bruges

A city that has "hardly" changed since the Middle Ages. Definitely a great place to visit any weekend... (and as we learned, no matter what the weather) a fun time. We took the Eurostar to Brussels and connected to a commuter that took us to Bruges. We went with Brad/Jill and Andrew/Kelly - Both couples from 'Bama. Ya'll.

Great job Jill for planning all of the logistics.

All of us enjoying a selection of beer at a local pub that is said to have over 300 types of beer. The pub is actually famous for its selection... It's called the "t Brugs Beertje." We had a very helpful server who knew what would fit our tastes.

Beth and I in the main square, the Markt

Hard to take a bad shot... just one of the many views of the city's canal system.

More beer. The alcohol % in Belgian beers is high - some as much as 12%... I'll take a small next time.

Girls doing their share.

Night shot of the Belfort in the Markt. On Sunday, we climbed to the top - 366 spiral steps (a leap year's worth). I was dizzy.

View of the city from the top of the Belfort.

I just finished my painting... good eh?

Plenty of these to go around. Central Park step aside.

A canal and a boat.

All of us in the back of the boat - just before the rains came.

When the rains did come, there were umbrellas made available on the boat.

Shot from the boat - at water level.

Just after the rain

The end.

The days of winter gloom are in full force.

Wind, and rain... I forgot what the sun looks like.

Last night there was a special documentary on BBC4 about American politics and the whole "blogging" thing. They had a clip of Lieberman in South Norwalk, CT. Good to see our hometown made it to the tele's across the pond.

A very happy 30th birthday, Rino!

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The steak at Smith's last night was awesome... the top floor of Smith's has great views of East London including St. Paul's Cathedral.

Not sure if I've mentioned this in any posts yet, but before leaving to come to the UK, we purchased a device called a Slingbox (www.slingmedia.com) which lets us watch American TV from home, including our TIVO. Thanks to Ryan (aka, PAPA) who is "hosting" our Sling (and about 8 hours of setup time), it works. We can watch anything in his cable channel lineup, LIVE. The new season of 24 premiers tonight. Not sure if we'll wait up till 2AM to watch it though.

Back to life this past week... I was in Belgium all week for a project. Not sure I got to eat any chocolate, but we did enjoy a "proper" meal every night.

Last night Beth and I went to The Blue Bar at The BERKELEY hotel. http://www.the-berkeley.co.uk/home/home.asp What a rip... a "house" white wine and a glass of scotch = £30. Well, it's in Knightsbridge so I guess that justified it.

Tonight Beth is taking me for my 30th to Smith's of Smithfield. I've been there a few times... I've found it's the only place that England can take pride in its steak. If you're on the website... we're booked on the top floor. Nice. http://www.smithsofsmithfield.co.uk

After more than two weeks of bloggin' silence, we're back.

Our trip home for the holidays was very pleasant - we saw many of our friends and family.
Beth and my parents threw me a surprise (well somewhat surprise) 30th B-Day party (it's officially Jan 16). The other highlight of the trip was meeting and visiting several new additions to our friends' families. This past week I attended a week of training in Orlando at the Disney Dolphin resort.

Merry Christmas from Darwin and Molly (we went to Beth's Aunt and Uncle's on Christmas and were well greeted)